


Who Protects Steve? Who Protects The Soldiers?

by Moon6Shadow



Series: Who Saves Steve? [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abusive relationship not between main characters, Angst, Blanket Permission Statement Available, Depression, Don't copy to another site, Fix It, Friendship, Gen, Group Therapy, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abusive Relationship, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Non-Sexual Intimacy, Implied/Referenced PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Knitting, Long Live Feedback (LLF) Comment Project Friendly, Male Friendship, Males Knitting, Not all heroes wear capes, Outsider Reactions, POV Outsider, Physical Disability, Reposting is only allowed for historic preservation with credit; not for personal or financial gain., Sleepovers, Soldiers, Steve Rogers Has Issues, Steve Rogers/Original Character(s) - Freeform, Therapy, ex-soldiers, invisible disability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-20 21:17:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21288308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moon6Shadow/pseuds/Moon6Shadow
Summary: Inspired by tumblr post about how Steve is likely highly vulnerable to abuse relationships after waking up from the ice and the question 'Who protects Steve?'
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Original Character(s)
Series: Who Saves Steve? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1534937
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Who Protects Steve? Who Protects The Soldiers?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Who Saves Steve?](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/531431) by itsallavengers. 

> Main inspiration: Who Saves Steve by itsallavengers (Tumblr)): “Who else has been in this situation before??? No-one” tag was the key inspiration that got this ball rolling. 
> 
> Other Inspiration:  
Seeing an article about ‘male knit night at the pub for mental health care’ awhile back. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Medical aspects are make believe and my knitting knowledge is practically nil.

“Who else has been in this situation before!? No-one.”

Mike wants to laugh, bitter laughter full of tears. He finally got this torn up mess to talk, now everyone else from group therapy had left, and _of course _Steve says something like this. It’s practically expected at this point, that damn boyfriend letting such thoughts marinate in his head, instead of helping lance the wound and letting the festering puss out so it could heal, because that wouldn’t have been convenient to _him_.

He knows the type.

“Who else? Lots of people. You don’t think I wasn’t a damn mess after the war?”

He slaps his bum leg, he’s got it stretched out and propped up on another hard unforgiving plastic chair, bending it never goes well so he makes do. Also, his physical therapist is always telling him raising it will help, it does, a little, he’ll need to walk on it again soon, he’s not looking forward to it.

He never is.

Clary had been a damn god sent, right up until she wasn’t.

People never did think females were capable of smacking around men.

He raises an eyebrow at Steve, who splutters, back peddling, and he snorts at him, waving a hand at him to stop with the apologies already.

“Never mind that.”

Honestly, you’d think Steve would be used to being around injured soldiers by now. Didn’t he ever get off the front lines long enough to see a hospital bed or a group therapy session before?

Guess not, not like he’d been the first, Micky has been like this, he’d had to talk Micky out of drinking himself to death, not a scratch on him and almost the worse off for it. Micky had been too ashamed and too uncomfortable to show his face around the others at group therapy, didn’t think he was ‘broken’ or ‘disabled enough’ because he was ‘fine, fine, see?’

Snort. Yeah right.

And now he has another self care greenie back from war trying to pull the same old shit, with cuts and bruises badly hidden under baggy clothes and a toxic boyfriend to boot, _hell no_.

Not having physical injuries didn’t mean shit and he really wanted to give Steve’s higher ups a right talking too for ever assuming otherwise, rather then group therapy being an apparent afterthought just so they could tick their damn boxes. Because Steve was ‘Captain America’ and apparently that meant he was infallible. As if he hadn’t heard that before, everyone thought that, right up until they didn’t.

Still, it did mean Steve was here _now_. If rather a lot later then was ideal given the toxic boyfriend who’d had time to well and truly sink his claws into him, the ‘benefits’ of having a boyfriend who had access to him through work, and his health record, _before_ his new group therapist did.

He wonders how long it’ll take to get Steve to turn up to knit night at the bar. Oh, he knows the higher ups will probably splutter about more group therapy sessions, or one on one therapy, if they get any idea of just how bad Steve is, but he looks like a horse ready to bolt at one wrong move. He’d looked damn uncomfortable the entire group session, barely made a peep.

Nah, he’s had a bit more practice since Micky and knit night always seems to go down a treat, once he can convince people to pick up the needles, and seeing a group of males with needles in their hands usually makes the convincing a whole lot easier.

Ashley, his physical therapist, had been right on the money, that time he’d lost his temper, then cried, over his leg not doing what he wanted it too and all the other things going to hell in his life and what was even the _point_ of trying anymore!? She’d sat him down and shoved needles into his hands and told him up front she was going to teach him to knit and he was going to listen or else, because there was no way in _hell _she was watching him give up now.

He’d had a flashback to Clary when she’d done that, his fingers had shook too much to hold the needles, and his leg had been on _fire_.

She’d taught him arm knitting instead.

Backed right off, and gently talked him through it, while demonstrating on herself as she stood next to him, so he didn’t get confused trying to do things back to front.

He’d had no clue what on earth he was doing but it was calming so he kept on going it, as if he was going to question something that kept the bad thoughts at bay when the nightmares screamed at him, the flashbacks got to him, his thoughts spiraled, or he thought of Clary.

He’d even gotten his group therapy mates to join in, as well as some other people at the bar who really looked like they could use it instead of drowning themselves in drink. Meanwhile Ashley had brought along a bunch of her own friends, who were very free with their advice. Which had been a great relief for his newbie knitting self who hadn't even quite figured out how to pick up a dropped stitch or even use knitting needles yet, let alone how to properly teach everyone else. The knit nights seemed to be working, a few years on and still going strong, and Micky was sleeping again. Although he and Sammy seemed to be permanent bed mates at this rate, nightmares or no. They weren’t the first pair of sleeping buddies he’d come across and they certainly wouldn’t be the last. Plus there always seemed to be someone having a friend's sleepover for anyone who just didn't want to be alone with the nightmares at night after Ashley and her friends had introduced them to the concept of a girl's night. He's pretty sure the resulting puppy piles, and the future friend's sleepovers epidemic, had been the plan from the beginning. Sleepovers had a tendency to result in far fewer nightmares, or at least someone who could convince you that 'no, you weren't back in the trenches', he'd give them that.

Granted he still has no idea how blankets full of so. many. holes. are so damn comfortable but his first arm knitted blanket is a life saver for his leg, particularly during winter months. As long as he stays out of the wind, that was a lesson he would not soon forget, wind and holes did not mix well. Although these days he tends to do more finger knitting, something about winding the wool around his fingers is comforting and soothing, even if he had learned to knit with needles too in the end. It made it easier when someone dropped a stitch _again _and no matter how many times he scolded them and told them he might not be around to show them how to fix it next time, he always did.

He eyes the tall broad-shouldered man in front of him who, now he’s not pretending to be ‘fine’, looks all of two feet tall, shoulders hunching in. Yeah, he had the feeling Steve would fit right in at knit night. He and the others would make sure of it.

Then maybe, after Steve looked a little less ready to bolt, they could start introducing him to the _real _21st century and start gently unraveling the web that toxic boyfriend of his had tangled him up in by showing him some human connection that _didn’t_ come with toxic expectations and conditions. Maybe even introduce him to the idea of a friend’s sleepover some time.

Yeah, this was going to be a trip, but they’d work on it. One stitch, one step, at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone for reading!! <3
> 
> #Fandom for Fun, so not looking for critics but pretty much all polite feedback including Whisper and Murmur comments are totally welcome. If you've left feedback in the form of kudos, bookmarks and/or comments I likely won't see feedback immediately, but I will see it eventually so thank you!! 
> 
> Open series to see my detailed [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject) statement or see [Poetry and Short Stories](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1007304) series notes for my Blanket Permission Statement but basically, as long as you credit, yes you can.


End file.
